The Sweet Candy Hype in Match 3 Puzzles

Diesen Artickel einschätzenThere’s something absolutely sweet and addictive with Candy Crush Saga. Let's all figure out how the hype started in sweet candy matching goodness article!

There’s something absolutely sweet and addictive with Candy Crush Saga. With over about 93 million active users in 2014, Candy Crush Saga continues on to with its epic domination in its game genre. But when looked upon at a distance, there seems to be nothing out of the ordinary with Candy Crush Saga—especially with its gameplay—for it seems, to most critics out there, that it is just another of the hundreds of Match-3 games available today in the market.

Candy Crush Saga dabbles on the Match-3 aspect of the game with the common requirements of any match-3 game; players are drawn to a board filled with tiles that they would have to match. These tiles could house any type of item (depending on the game’s theme)—for Candy Crush, it’s just what you guessed—candies. In order to make a point, players will have to match three of the same tiles in a single row. It’s that simple and easy but that may not seem enough to lure 93 million players alone.

The success of Candy Crush Saga lies on a combination of several factors built in its gameplay that taps almost everyone’s sweet spot.

1. Simple yet polished. Being a match-3 game, Candy Crush Saga definitely makes do with the highly simplistic game design of match-3 games. But despite its simplicity, Candy Crush Saga does more by investing in high-quality graphics and animation that makes the game well polished and streamlined. Candy Crush simply leaves no room for sloppiness as it adds to its design the idea of clean and amusing animations and voice-overs. With its well-thought-of design and thoroughly invested animation, Candy Crush Saga stands apart by clearing the stage of becoming “just another Match-3” game in the market.

2. Widely accessible. While most match-3 games have always been playable on a computer, Candy Crush Saga was one of the first Match-3 games to take advantage of the changing tide in gaming platforms by adapting to the demand of mobile gaming. Candy Crush immediately jumped on to be available through smartphones and other mobile devices together of course with its clear-cut and appealing graphics. Despite that, Candy Crush Saga did not leave the PC-gaming scene altogether but simply widened its reach by still keeping their PC version available to players.

3. A decent rewards system. With over 600 levels (and counting) available, Candy Crush Saga makes gameplay highly engaging and challenging despite its simple game mechanic—the game makes it easy for the gamers to try out in the beginning and keeps them on their toes wanting for more with their desire to conquer higher levels. In order to do this, Candy Crush Saga builds up on players’ excitement by offering them “Sweet” and “Tasty” rewards (no matter how small) to players. Whether it is a simple three combo strike or a level clearance, Candy Crush Saga makes no reservation in recognizing the players’ accomplishment.

4. Encourages Sociability. As Candy Crush Saga has already banked on the changing technology with the focus on mobile gaming, developers of the game also invested in one particular factor that makes it all the while more addictive—its social aspect. To advance in the game, or to simply continue in the game, players must request more “lives” from online friends. Through this aspect, Candy Crush simply rewards sociability and interaction amongst its players through the game feature of requesting for “lives”.